Daily Archives: December 21, 2017

Himself has been nagging me to read this one ever since he bought it – and when I finally managed to get to it, I’m so very glad I did…

Webspace pilot Moire Cameron is one of the best–but even she can’t fly her way out of a catastrophic drive failure that triggers a time-dilation bubble. Left suddenly eighty years out of date, she is on the run in a world she no longer knows, caught in the middle of a human-alien war while agents of Toren hunt her for the information only she has–the location of the pristine world of Sequoyah.

I’ve read a couple of science fiction books recently that have started in a fairly leisurely manner – this isn’t one of them. It hits the ground running and feeds information to the reader, who needs to catch up. I love it. It’s the reason why SFF is my go-to genre, no other fiction makes me think out of the box in quite the same way… Moire is scrambling to stay ahead of a ruthless corporation who want the information she has and isn’t fussy about how they’ll get it.

The worldbuilding is solidly convincing with all sorts of nice details that has Moire scratching her head as she struggles to catch up with the technology since she finds herself bounced into the future. I stayed up far later than I should have as this book refused to let me go until I’d finished it. We learn about all sorts of interesting places as she tries to keep a low profile in the less salubrious parts of space – think of an adrenaline-fuelled version of The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. And no… the name of Chase’s book isn’t a rip-off, as it was published in 2012, well before Becky Chambers published her space opera best-seller.

As well as being an exciting chase, there are also some interesting plot twists – a couple I saw coming and one I didn’t – that also helped to keep the pages turning. The writing is accomplished and smooth, while Moire is a thoroughly likeable character who is doing her best to acclimatise herself in hard circumstances.

The story came to a suitable climax, though the ending leaves us with a lot more unanswered questions – however, for once I don’t care because I have Raven’s Children on my Kindle ready and waiting. I shan’t be leaving it long before I return to this thrilling world.
9/10

ANNDDD…

Laura from Fuonlyknew has written a 4 star review of Dying for Space which I’m delighted about. I’m still getting used to the buzz of people reading and enjoying my writing…